Squatting to become a criminal offence
Squatters with a taste for the high-life have hit the headlines several times this year after moving into empty luxury mansions in Bristol.
But they could find themselves living in a different type of big house – lacking some of the creature comforts of a Clifton des res – in future.
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Cliftonwood House mansion, which squatters occupied earlier this year
Squatters will face up to six months in prison and so-called squatters’ rights scrapped as it becomes a criminal offence in England and Wales tomorrow.
Ministers said the move would shut the door on squatters once and for all and help protect hard-working homeowners.
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But campaigners warned that criminalising squatting in residential buildings would lead to an increase in some of the most vulnerable homeless people sleeping rough.
The introduction of the offence – which will carry a maximum sentence of up to six months in jail for persistent offenders, a £5,000 fine or both – follows a Government consultation on the issue last summer.
Earlier this year a group of up to 20 young people – some associated with the Occupy movement that had set up camp on College Green – moved into the £3 million Cliftonwood House mansion.
The self-proclaimed ‘care-takers’ proudly showed reporters around their luxury accommodation – which boasted a swimming pool and large wine cellar among its many selling points.
But neighbours complained of late-night parties and people at the mansion hitting golf balls at their homes.
Police eventually raided the property, but other empty buildings in the city have subsequently been occupied.
The change in the law has long been campaigned for by housing developers and property organisations.
But homeless charity Crisis said the new law would criminalise vulnerable people, leaving them in prison or facing a fine they cannot pay.
“It also misses the point,” Leslie Morphy, the charity’s chief executive, said.
“There was already legal provision that police and councils could, and should, have used to remove individuals in the rare instances of squatting in someone’s home.
“And the new law also applies to empty homes – of which there are 720,000 in England alone, including many that are dilapidated and abandoned – criminalising homeless people when they are just trying to find a place off the streets.”
She went on: “It will do nothing to address the underlying reasons why vulnerable people squat in the first place – their homelessness and a lack of affordable housing.”
But Justice Minister Crispin Blunt said: “For too long, squatters have had the justice system on the run and have caused homeowners untold misery in eviction, repair and clean-up costs. Not any more.
“Hard-working homeowners need and deserve a justice system where their rights come first – this new offence will ensure the police and other agencies can take quick and decisive action.”
Housing Minister Grant Shapps added: “No longer will there be so-called ‘squatters rights’.
“We’re tipping the scales of justice back in favour of the homeowner and making the law crystal clear: entering a property with the intention of squatting will be a criminal offence.
“And by making this change, we can slam shut the door on squatters once and for all.”
Guidance for police on the new offence has been issued by the Ministry of Justice.
Comments
by PolitDave
Wednesday, September 05 2012, 8:48PM
“I think the spokesman for the 'homeless' Roger Cole has scored an own goal, he has been squatting since he was 19 and is now 54, as this was during several periods when work was easy to come by he demonstrates that for many squatting, avoiding rent, mortgage, council tax etc. is a way of life and not a necessity.”
by PolitDave
Wednesday, September 05 2012, 8:43PM
“I think the spokesman for the 'homeless' Roger Cole has scored an own goal, by his own admission he has been squatting since he was 19 and is now 54. As this was during several periods when work was easy to come by he demonstrates that for many squatting, avoiding rent, mortgage, council tax etc. is a way of life and not a necessity.”
by ANDYJRM
Wednesday, September 05 2012, 6:31PM
“Now if these "squatters" were genuinely homeless, i.e. destitute and desperately seeking shelter from the elements, the thought of jail would be a pretty welcome prospect, with it's secure buildings, regular meals, proper beds and facilities.
But if (as we all know to be the case), they are just dropouts, wasters, anarchists and social parasites who don't want to do the decent normal thing of working to pay for their own accommodation and contributing to society, then it is a less pleasant prospect.
So I put it to the regular anarchist posters on here - if the squatters are so genuine in their "need" for accommodation why have they either not approached the local authority or the numerous hostels and charities in the city that provide emergency housing?
We've yet too see either here or on other media channels any honest, direct, quantifiable proof that these are anything other than wasters.
As I have said many times before, it's high time we brought back the workhouse.”
by artglad
Wednesday, September 05 2012, 5:29PM
“Perhaps squatters should be evicted only if the owner can prove that the building is going to be put to use for a legitimate purpose.”
by OldWilliam
Tuesday, September 04 2012, 10:08PM
“Does anyone seriously think, apropos the 20% cuts in police revenue budgets, and the wholesale compulsory retirement of officers with 30 years of service using Regulation A19, that simply as a consequence of this legislation, huge amounts of money will now suddenly materialise to pay for large numbers of officers to undertake mass arrests of squatters around the country, involving significant pre-planning and logistical support, not to mention parallel complex evidence-gathering during and after these operations with a view to preparing huge numbers of prosecutions of those now alleged to be criminals?
Breaking shock news... there's no new money, and forces are already struggling just to maintain response cover to 999 calls and the plethora of activities that are the subjects of politically-driven performance measures.
Or, in short, it ain't gonna happen, folks!
All this legislation will do (and the Government knows it, it isn't stupid) is create unrealistic expectation in the minds of Middle-Englanders, long after the news interviews and the media circus for politicians have been packed up and put away. Huge numbers of police officers had their entire summers subjected to a blanket leave ban - many being forced to cancel pre-booked holidays with ant recompense whatsoever - because of the G4S fiasco. Does anyone really think that those overdue holidays can simply be put on hold for another indeterminate and extended period just to provide sufficient suitably-trained ("Level 1") Police Support Units to undertake [yet another] new role for the police?
No.
Prediction: Police officers - who are Crown servants with no contracts of employment or pay and conditions negotiating rights - will either have industrial rights (like the other employees the Government has been encouraging them to imitate) within 12 months, or policing as we know it will have ceased to exist, with property protection and 999 responses being carried out by the likes of G4S and the like.
Either way, this nonsense might well be the last straw.
Enough is enough.”
by Systems
Monday, September 03 2012, 9:09AM
“Yes it's absolutely imperative that should anyone witness an anarchist coming or going from a residential building then the police should be notified immediately.
These anti establishment types are an impediment to our great and glorious government and the sweeping reforms that they're enacting, they must be stopped at all costs.
The historic and unprecedented changes that our magnificent leaders are bringing about to our society will have long lasting effects, sweeping aside the barriers to riches and wealth.
Never before has so much been owed by so many to so few.”
by Able Investigation & Enforcements
Sunday, September 02 2012, 3:48PM
“Only about 3% of squatters in Bristol is down the homelessness, the remainng 97% is due to Anachists, most are anti-establishment and do their best to go against the establishment, however they will accept state handouts. In the 20 years or so I have been in the enforcement sector I can count on the fingers of one hand the amount of times I have turned up at a squat and the people inside were really homeless peolpe.
Most squatters have mobiles, laptops, access to funds, inside these squats there will be maps of where they are going next, posters for various anti-establishment protests somewhere just to cause a fight with the police. when we are carrying out the eviction they will be phoning around to get their mates there to encourage unrest or some type or another.
I have also seen the damage that is caused to properties, whilst in the main when served with court papers the squattesr would attend the court hearing and say "we are looking after the property as if it were our own" trust me I have seen these properties which in most cases have been totally trashed, causing £1000's of pounds worth of damage, some of these properties belonged to elderly people who have had to give up their home to be placed in a nursing home, by the time the squatters leave, its not worth anything and can only be sold as a shell.
This is not a harmless crime, there are several laws that one could use to evict prior to this Act coming into force, but the police rarely used them. Now it is a criminal offence I hope that peolpes' property will be protected. I know some of the squatting community will take no notice of it and just carry on.
Evictions are always quite during the summer months, because most of the squatters will be off to one of the many festivals, they will start to get back into properties towards to end of September/October. if they were really homelsss then they would be off spending money on festivals.
My personal view is that squatters will turn to commercial property rather than residential in the main. They will however continue to try and use Sec 6 of the CJA to stay in commercial property, but you know what, you don't need a court order to remove squatters from a commercial property, nor travellers from private or common land. Most squatters know just engough of the Law to bamboozle the Police, who to their defence only normally deal with Criminal Law and not civil.”
by Charlespk
Sunday, September 02 2012, 10:38AM
“Squatting was/is a classic example of the collective madness that engulfs so much of our lives these days. . Blatantly wrong; but instead of being immediately jumped upon, it was just allowed to fester away and become just another of those 20th and 21st Century 'sores', like shop-lifting and theft generally have now become in this 'lock-down/lock-up' society in which we all now have to live. . How far have we sunk since those halcyon days of 'the key's under the mat'.
This poem was quite appropriate I thought, though it enlarges somewhat on the underlying problem.
Gangstas 'n' Guns
Copyright by Les Knight 2007
Guns are the Guccis of street gangs,
The hoodies a symptom of fear,
Their heads bowed like aconites under the neon lights,
It's time we woke up to what's happening here.
Born in the Sixties I witnessed,
A decade of wonder and fun,
With safe places to play, these were innocent days,
And we fired only spuds from our guns.
We all knew our neighbours, our houses;
Had doors that were left unlocked at night,
No one stole from their own, women walked safe alone,
And men would shake hands after a fight.
Now children have "gangsta" role models,
And video games all steeped in blood,
They are lost and there's no one to guide them,
And the Government baulks, when the going gets tough.
Our children cry out for redemption,
But the system is governed by greed,
The social in socialist's gone now,
Kids get what they want, never what they need.
It takes caring to raise up a flower from seed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~”
by ScarlettOHara
Sunday, September 02 2012, 6:16AM
“Ugh, ship them all to zimbabwe or israel. Let the governments and taxpayers of those nations support UK's squatters and homeless. It's time for European nations to start demanding equal compassion and charity and open borders from OTHER nations.”
by Tody123
Saturday, September 01 2012, 8:17AM
“Art4Artsache:
Perhaps you could show the way by allowing one of these impoverished people to sleep on your sofa?
Or is that not convenient for you?”